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Football
has been the greatest
and strongest force that I've had
in my life.
It was clear to me as a child
what I wanted to do.
One of the best football players in the world.
Hugo Sanchez
has been the best Mexican football player of all time.
The way he played, the way he scored
was truly incredible.
Hugo Sanchez is an idol.
Hugo Sanchez is a character
tied to the Mexicans' culture and idiosyncrasy.
There is no 20th century,
nor a history of Mexico, without Hugo Sanchez' presence.
An average of 27 goals per year.
Ten consecutive years in Spanish football.
Nobody does that!
Hugo Sanchez is the eminence.
The Miguel Hidalgo of Mexican football is Hugo Sanchez.
It was extraordinary that his left leg
was sensational in terms of getting the goal.
The best player I've ever had, and for Spain too.
HUGO SÁNCHEZ GOAL AND GLORY
I started in Pumas' basic forces
since I was 11, because my brothers were
part of Pumas' basic forces.
So they were in the special reserve,
which was the name of the second team
of the professional team.
I started in the fourth children's,
then the third,
then the first, and that's when I leaped
to the special youth.
They praised him at school
because he always got good grades.
All his friends liked football too.
They played at school.
We went where Hugo lived.
It was a closed street, the typical
coladerita, because there were two sewers
along the street.
So this friend came out, and that one.
"Let's play", and we played on the street.
In Jardin Balbuena,
Place 18,
with his mom, with the family I know.
They had a trampoline, his sister was a gymnast.
And he jumped and he jumped.
And everyday Hugo boom and boom!
Then he arrived to the court in CU and he finished his training
and one, fifty cross, and I shot.
Chucho Ramirez was on the other side, 50 cross and shot.
Training very day, longing every day,
wishing every day,
leads you to a constant.
And it ends up happening,
because this is not about luck.
Hugo Sanchez is exceptional in that he became
in the man of the instant and the definitive decision.
Many of his goals took one hit.
He has a chance and turns it into a result.
What mattered to me was to triumph in football.
What mattered to me was to be successful.
What mattered to me was to reach my goal,
my objectives and I wouldn't stop until I got them.
We always had a ball in the house.
The boys, his brothers,
started in college too,
and through them, he played a lot
with the ball.
I saw my brother Horacio in the press,
on the TV,
and how important it was to go to the Olympic Games.
And I was jealous because I wanted
to go to the Olympic Games.
When I was 14, almost 15 years old,
he tried me.
"I want to go," he said.
Since he was short, his brother Horacio
said they wouldn't take him, because he was a small kid.
His dad didn't want to send him away,
that he should stay, and I was in charge of him.
So I left him
and they took him.
A boy came,
an actual child, he was 14 or 15.
We played in Amecameca against the Amecameca selection.
He was there in a tiny stadium,
it housed around 3000 people, but it was full.
They were fat, potbellied, shot.
They mopped the floor with us.
They beat us! We got in the truck
and the only one that was crying
was Hugo.
So I said, "Hugo,
why are you crying?"
"For the first time in my life
I didn't score a goal!"
And I said, "Hugo,
this is Amecameca. No one will know."
"But I will."
I got accepted in the Olympic Team,
to play in different international games,
like the CANNES tournament,
where I got nicknamed "The Golden Child,"
the Tulum Tournament, in '75, '76,
then the Pan Am Games in '75,
and, finally, the Olympic Games of '76.
Goal!
It was a dream
that I wanted to come true,
and at that age,
12 years old, I thought how I'd love
to be able to play with the National Team
shirt on
and play in the Aztec Stadium.
Those are dreams that you harbor as a child
and, luckily, you attain them.
Hugo arrived at the right time,
at the correct hour and the perfect place.
University Pumas, in the 70s and 80s.
The best quarry in Mexican football at the time.
MEXICO CITY UNAM, 1976
Gold and blue
are traditional colors, it's very prestigious,
it has a seal of approval, you are proud to be there
or to belong to a successful community.
I saw a young man who talked about things
we weren't used to listen to.
A 17, 18-year-old Hugo Sanchez who said
not that he would be the best Pumas player,
nor the best Mexican player,
but the best player in the world.
When you entered the Pumas' dressing room at that time,
you entered and saw the players who back then
were whole figures, were already cracks.
In my Monterrey versus Tigres debut
I arrived with the illusion and the energy
of living my dream of being a pro.
I was fortunate to make Cabinho
a pass to score the winning goal
and we won Tigres as visiting with my debut.
And the coach back then, Jorge Manrique,
may he rest in peace,
he was gradually helping me and got me in as substitute
and I hung around those
who I knew that could help me
to achieve my next target, which was to be a starter player.
Muñante was the forward,
a spectacular Peruvian, Cabinho, an impressive scorer,
and Candido, a young Brazilian. Hugo replaced Candido,
and he slowly took over Candido's place,
until Hugo Sanchez stayed as starter.
When I became the Pumas coach
during the '77-'78 season,
it was my destiny
that a boy named Hugo arrived
and I was lucky to work with him
training in the basic forces.
He scored amazing goals.
Hugo Sanchez' great launch in Mexican football
came when, in March '77,
at the Aztec, scored with a free kick
when he came as sub, Pumas scored against America,
and people got to know Hugo Sanchez.
I celebrated greatly
because it was my first professional goal.
And it was right here, in this beautiful stadium.
Bora was who explained me
that last season finished with the same score.
So my job is to tighten up a little bit more
in this second round.
I tried to convince him to play center forward,
because, due to his qualities,
it would be better for him to be close to the goal.
He didn't like the idea. He hardly agreed
to play that game against Potosino.
He scored three goals and in the press conference
people asked, "Hey, Hugo,
today you played in a new position.
You played center forward with Cabinho,"
and he said, "It was hard to convince Bora
to put me in this position."
We played a game, Pumas versus Atlante,
and I scored three goals.
I see his profile, turning his back to me.
He was not going to head the ball,
but he'd attempt a scissor kick.
It was not Chilean, it was a scissors.
I was standing well, I swear,
and I even touched it.
Goal! Sure!
Imagine the press, Hugo scored a goal against me,
I was no one next to him.
Not anyone has that resource.
Only the great ones.
Coincidentally, during the next season
I scored three goals again.
We defeated Atlante in Ciudad Universitaria
and I scored with a "Chilena" again.
After the game, they ask you questions.
And there was a moment of genius, it was genius,
where I said a little mad, after the game,
I said, "It was a lucky goal."
I scored six goals in two games.
I don't know if it goes without merit,
because it was easy to me.
HIS ARRIVAL TO SPAIN
I wanted to be in an important team in Europe,
and Atletico de Madrid offered me that possibility.
I concluded the World Cup is in '82,
here in Spain.
The eyes of the world will be set on this country.
It was wonderful to embark on the adventure
of going to Spain, I was single,
and being young at 23,
I married Emma Portugal.
Four years later, Hugo was born.
that helped me value family.
I didn't value it when I got married
because, more than marrying Emma Portugal,
I married football.
And she was the partner that helped me
through difficult times.
When Hugo was born first,
and Hemma three years later, was fantastic
because I reaffirmed what it is
to live with a family and to have a family,
and to have a responsibility
as a father, and as husband too.
So I
wanted to achieve goals
and very large objectives
and their mother wasn't
very thrilled with the idea.
So we both agreed
to split.
And Hugo and Hemma understood it later.
To have a family and being married
did not affect me,
and it didn't stop me from asking myself
what do I want, the family
or the football?
If they had asked,
what comes first family or football?
I would sadly say
that football.
As a 4, 5-year-old girl
you don't understand
why dad isn't here.
Until later you start to realize,
badly, because you get used
to things being like that.
Why there are cameras around him.
You don't understand why all the time
people ask for an autograph, a photo.
And you understand that your dad is working.
And I thought and said, "I'm achieving
another dream, another goal"
which was to come and play in Europe,
in a great team like Atletico Madrid.
But the preseason started
and I suddenly hear
and find out that
the coach that had hired me,
with the technical secretary, were gone.
My support
in the board and with the coach were absent.
They brought another coach,
named Luis Cid Carriega, who had me as substitute,
He didn't give me a chance to prove myself.
FAILURE IN HONDURAS 1981...
The definitive game came,
Mexico stumbles in some matches. It was hard.
They played in Honduras.
The field...
is complicated the audience is aggressive,
the referee was biased.
There, he had to take the blame for a bad selection.
I was starting again my training adventure
when I returned to Spain,
I received the great news
that the coach who had hired me was back.
I met Alfonso Cabeza,
who was the president then,
He said, "Hugo, if you really want to stay here,
you have to waive 50%
of your contract."
He tried to break my contract with Pumas
with the engineer Guillermo Aguilar Alvarez.
And Alvarez said, "They won't give him back to us.
Hugo will fulfill his dream.
There is a contract and you can't return him."
Pumas fully supports Hugo.
I don't care to earn the half,
just to prove that I will succeed,
and I will show my capacity and my talent here in the field.
Indio! Indio! Indio!
I was in Camp Nou,
watching Barcelona play against Atletico Madrid,
when Hugo had just arrived to Spain.
Those mean enthusiasts shouted
"Indio" at Hugo Sanchez. It's hard to overcome
this emotional lynching
that was reproduced in every stadium.
Hugo armored himself against that,
losing certain charm, a certain charisma
that the Mexican enthusiasts would have preferred.
But you must understand his history within this context.
It was surprising that everyone agreed
and said,
"Indio! Bastard!"
Outside the Molinon, for example.
It was one of the chants the whole stadium made.
And they thought that shouting "Indio" at me
they would bring me down or I would feel less.
I turned those insults into something positive,
and it motivated me. And dignity and pride
gave me strength because I knew they were aware of me.
And their being aware made me feel more important.
I received a Spanish journal
and the front cover said, "Hugo, a failure."
He didn't measure up to the first games.
His first year in Madrid, was really hard.
A Mexican player succeeding in Europe
back then, was unheard of.
It was difficult for him,
in the center of the field, to make a good play,
because it was not his thing,
but from three quarters up, he was lethal.
He had it in his head that he could not leave Mexico
and come back without succeeding, right?
And that ambition led him to try and work with the utmost interest.
And then his conditions,
conditions as a goal scorer,
I have never seen another one in my life,
in the way he acted,
in the way he looked for the goal, right?
He changed those, "Go back, Indio!"
for white handkerchiefs
that the Spaniards waved everywhere
Hugo returns and scores goals.
There was an As journal front cover
that said, "That's the way, buddy."
With Atletico Madrid
I had the chance to win
my first Pichichi
and then the Copa del Rey.
I got a call from Ramon Mendoza,
who'd become Real Madrid's president.
He wanted to interview me
I observed the importance, the greatness,
and the mindset of always winning titles
in Real Madrid.
And what I'd like is to win titles.
When I received the proposal from Real Madrid,
I was heading to Vicente Calderon's office
and, to soften him up,
I took my little son Hugo in my arms
to tell him, "Please, don Vicente, help me.
I want to go with Real Madrid,
because it's the team where I want to get more titles
and I have the chance to be there. Please."
Until he said, "Hugo, it's okay. I'll help you.
But I can't negotiate directly."
I thought of taking the Pumas president,
engineer Guillermo Aguilar,
to help me out
by having Pumas buy me again
to supposedly sign with Pumas,
but then Pumas would sell me to Real Madrid.
The Club Atletico Madrid president agreed
with the Real Madrid president
to manage it that way
because Hugo wanted to come with Real Madrid
and to do it directly was a slap in the face
to the Club Atletico president.
Finally Ramon Mendoza, Madrid's president, came
and had the idea to carry over
three or four stronghold players.
We came from rage, a football with no discourse, aesthetic.
When Franco dies, the transition starts.
Spain feels European, feels free.
And football, which usually translates
the social pulse, brought a generation
with an amount of players,
that played very well, a very delicate football.
We represented intuition,
intelligence, creativity,
inspiration, something different.
They complemented very well.
Maceda, Gordillo and Hugo Sanchez,
who were the pillars
on which that team was built.
They made such an important team
that they called it Real Madrid's Second Golden Age.
Little by little, they were realizing
that he was important, necessary, vital
for a group, even if it was Real Madrid,
and that made him get more involved
and deliver greatly, as always.
Hugo was not surrounded by his countrymen.
He was miles away from Mexico,
in a terribly demanding club,
with a different football concept than America.
But he got over all of that.
He came to Madrid and there he succeeded.
He won over the Madrilenians,
he won the followers, the people's hearts
for his dedication, his conviction, his character,
and on top of that,
an extraordinary performance as a goal scorer.
An aggressive attack player who has fun.
The goal of my dreams
was a goal with a "Chilena", from my father's influence,
for he was the reason I practiced since I was 4.
I practiced a thousand times.
and I made that kick my favorite
and I perfected it.
Goal!
Again in Santiago Bernabeu,
sporting the Real Madrid shirt,
I scored with a "Chilena"
and I made my dream come true.
That goal went down in history
and its aesthetic, because
it perfectly showed what kind of forward
and what possibilities he had.
It's not a coincidence that 38 goals or a right touch,
left, head, penalty,
does not make any sense,
because he made no sense.
He was a star. He was gifted.
He scored 38 goals in a season, with first intention.
That's a phenomenon.
As a player, as a center forward,
there's hardly anyone better.
WORLD CUP MEXICO, 1986
The '86 World Cup
meant a return to the World Cups for Hugo Sanchez,
go back to his country as a triumphant idol in Spain.
It was a hard to beat team.
We lost very few games.
A well-coordinated team in its playing style,
and we were missing the important piece
who couldn't be with us, who was Hugo Sanchez.
It was totally shameful
for the rest of the players
the treatment they gave Hugo Sanchez.
Imagine a Hollywood superstar
and the rest of them were mere mortals.
If you have a guy that wins every year
the scoring championship in Spain,
which is a world-renowned league,
will you spare him from your team?
Will you tell Hugo Sanchez,
"Don't come. I have a group of friends
that have a good time and play in Mexico."
When you have a goal with your team,
the least you can do is agree
on how to defend or attack,
where is everyone going.
There was none of that.
And that screwed the group.
He showed in the field and in training
that he's one of the best,
but the people
say this,
Bora gave him advantage.
He didn't want to blend in the group,
but the group to accommodate
to his way of being, thinking, playing.
There were many unspoken clashes,
but of course there were clashes.
I remember a National Team player
said before the World Cup, "Hugo come, let's see what he finds."
He took a Spanish accent.
That annoyed some teammates.
Even the coach.
He asked me to talk to him,
which I found to be a ridiculous request,
because it was like not respecting
the way he was.
Bora gave instructions,
"We'll run this way,"
and Hugo, and I'm telling the truth,
naturally said, "Bora, can I make a suggest?
In Real Madrid, Butragueño gives me the ball
and I rely on Michel, who centers."
The group said, "Son of a gun!
What's with this guy?"
Hugo, as an icon, arrived
acting like team captain.
He deserved it.
But there were people who had
worked for three years, like Tomas Boy.
They asked me to please,
be more humble, down to earth,
they said they talked
and that I wouldn't be made team captain,
because, if I was made team captain,
there would be more envy and jealousy.
It's unbelievable they didn't let me be captain
because of their mentality and jealousy.
I think they should have asked me politely
to be the leader, the captain,
because I was succeeding outside of Mexico.
Tomas was the captain who wore the badge,
and we sat down and I remember that in that meeting
Tomas and I commented
that the group was a little restless
regarding Hugo's behavior.
And Hugo
said the same. "This is sad.
I thought it was a different group," he expressed,
because he had been in two previous
World Cups, '78 and '82,
where he perceived, I wasn't there,
factions, jealousy, insecurities, small team,
and he clashed with that, and he felt that '86 was,
finally, a competitive, winning,
protagonist team.
The World Cup '86 is for Hugo
the Cup at home, where he is and idol,
and he's expected,
and he arrives with an injury from a game in Europe.
He had a different commitment from everyone else.
So, surely, the coaching team decided that Hugo
would be granted certain concessions.
They were asking me to lower
my performance to their level.
And I said, "Why don't you rise up to my mentality,
my football level,
and that leadership I've earned,
why don't you have it too?"
He said, "It's too hard.
We are not like you.
We are limited and we have problems."
I said, "That's not my problem. It's you problem."
Hugo was here
at that time
and the rest of us were here.
There was no one here
in the middle, or close
to Hugo in that competition sense.
Hugo, you have to understand
that we decided that the eldest is the captain.
We think it's the most convenient.
The eldest, back then, was Tomas Boy.
I didn't know he wanted to be captain.
Bora kind of mentioned
that Hugo asked to be captain.
but, as I understood,
Bora said he chose me as captain
and the rest of the team chose me as captain.
The decision to make Tomas Boy captain
becomes a diplomatic move
from Bora Milutinovic, to avoid another kind
of issue.
He chooses a talented guy with leadership,
which is what you need
to carry the captain band.
They're all the same to me.
Tomas Boy had a lot of merits.
He is captain. Hugo is third.
Hugo never protested against it.
What does that show?
That the team was important to him,
the team's spirit,
no matter who was captain.
Later I knew that he thought,
since Maradona had been chosen
by his great Argentinian colleagues,
he had to be chosen too,
like him.
I didn't get that part.
No.
It's not like,
"Stop pretending, Tomas."
They always think that.
I never knew he wanted to be captain.
"Being captain or not,
it doesn't matter to me.
But their way of thinking is really sad.
They have a mediocre mentality."
The Coca Cola company made an important
where there was a minute left and Hugo Sanchez
shot a penalty and scored.
And he played against Paraguay,
there's a minute left, it's made for TV.
I ran because we went live
and I go out, there's a stand, Coca Cola and the shot.
Hugo Sanchez was that ad in front of my eyes
with a different ending.
I remember Hugo took the ball.
Aguirre could have shot, Tomas could have shot,
I could have shot, Luis Flores,
if he was there, I forgot.
But the important thing
is the confidence to stand up in there.
Not anyone does it.
When I failed at that time
and it was a tie,
I felt human.
How would you feel when a player like Luis Flores,
is told, "Go to the bench,
because Hugo Sanchez is taking your place"?
Imagine.
I'm not ousting anyone.
I'm part of a 22 players list.
A process that takes up many years,
and there's a decision that leaves you out.
You'll be starting?
That depends on the coach.
They will hang Bora in Mexico City's Zocalo.
Exactly.
He will assume that responsibility
and he will take the risk, if that happens.
We played the fifth game against Germany.
We played really well.
We had many chances to score. The Colombian referee
canceled my goal, Aguirre was really close.
When we get to penalties,
none of us believed that we would arrive to that.
When Bora asked, "Who's shooting" Nobody stepped in.
Everyone cramped. Tomas cramped.
Quirarte cramped. Hugo Sanchez cramped.
Nobody shot the penalties.
They look like defenses shooting penalties
in front of a goalkeeper like Schumacher.
The possibility of Hugo reversed what he had done
in that World Cup, shooting the penalty
and scoring, helping Mexico to go over Germany,
would have changed the rest of History.
Despite that,
from my outside point of view,
as a journalist that watches the Cup
and broadcasts it, I always saw him
give his all in the World Cup.
The World Cup is also politics.
They always say,
"The referee helped the local team, because they're local".
But the referee didn't help here.
Mexico didn't help itself
protecting its own interests since the schedule design.
Who always has the preference? The local.
It wasn't the players' fault,
nor Bora's, nor Hugo's, nor anyone else's.
You just take them out of their fortress,
the Aztec, and they become vulnerable.
Any player who performs below expectations
gets disproportionate criticism.
And no one garnered more expectation than Hugo Sanchez in Mexico.
I met Isabel,
my current wife, in '90. It was love at first sight
and we haven't been apart since.
Hugo made me feel the most wonderful person in the world.
I was a princess
and all he wanted was that I was happy.
The rest of the world disappeared for a while.
Hugo is very protective.
The priest that married us came at the end of the ceremony
to say goodbye,
and he says, "What's your problem? She's my wife.
Why are you talking to her?"
And he says, "Sorry, Hugo!
I was just saying goodbye."
"I'm sorry, but she's my wife."
You can't be jealous of the priest
that just married her.
We waited a few years,
to enjoy a childless marriage
until she got pregnant. And,
thank God, they were two.
Isabela and Hana.
I was lucky to find him at a time
when he had practically achieved everything he ever dreamed of.
Imagine the euphoria.
He was conquering the world, at that time
it belonged to him. He was the center
because, in football,
being Real Madrid's center forward
is the center of the world.
He was that back then and he was scoring
two or three goals every week.
He felt that rush you get when you do everything right.
When things you thought of doing turn out right.
He had the traits of a born winner,
and he fundamentally showed the ambition,
a determination out of the ordinary.
I confronted Hugo
and he had no friends.
He was a
killer. If he had to step on you,
elbow you, spit on you, threaten you
and score, he would. He had no remorse.
Many of the things he accomplished
were because he said, "I'll be the best."
When you say, "I'm the best one here,
or I want to be or will be the best,
or I'm the best,"
it seems wrong, it hurts
and we vent national miseries that burden us.
Since I was a child, I didn't
have such a strong personality, temper,
but when I became a pro ad went to Spain
and I lived outside my country,
away from my surroundings, my family, my friends,
it hardened my temper
and my personality became more defined.
For the first time in Mexican football's history
someone crossed the borders and wasn't
shy enough to be great.
In Mexico, success divides people.
We have this attitude of feeling beneath
and if someone goes away
to triumph, they have abandoned us.
It's the apostate leaving the tribe.
It's called envy.
It's the pain of not being.
Envy, seeing another succeed while you don't.
It blinds you
and you don't see why such person succeeded.
Sure! You have to be blind, crazy and sick
in your head, and boiling with envy and jealousy
to not see the work
of Hugo Sanchez.
In that trade, you can't project weakness
or gratitude.
He was competing next to big players
and he had to feel that way,
with a certain dose of arrogance.
The Hugo from Jardin Balbuena is the same as now.
That's what's magic about him.
He's a guy that has no need
to show people that he's wealthy or that he's powerful.
He never carries that flag.
He's a person that has done.
He's had like a script
of his life, since he was a child.
And he followed it,
and to get what I want
I will do this."
He decided he wanted to be the best player in Mexico
and he achieved that.
The truth, it is something that...
many people admire, I admire him,
it is something very difficult to achieved
it is a source of pride for me.
He must relax and not be so...
like...
anxious, controlling.
He exerts an excessive control.
It's excessive because he wants to control everything.
Everything. And some things are not for him.
He does not think of himself, he thinks of the good of all.
I just want to thank him for...
helping me to be the way I am now.
I love him very much, he is my father.
"Dad, I can't be the best at everything.
I will try, but no.
I can't be the best at everything."
"Well, try and do your best
to at least get close to perfection."
The mindset plays a big role
in wanting to be different
and standing out.
That guideline, that awareness
that my mother gave me, she wanted me to be the best,
it helped me and I took it seriously.
I won't be the best at everything, but I will be closer
than others who don't try to.
The second and third years helped me improve
my productivity in goals and in playing.
And Leo Beenhakker left
after winning the third title in a row.
Before the championship was over,
it was like warning the manager
to bring another forward instead of Hugo,
because Hugo was getting old in football.
BACK TO MEXICO CLUB AMERICA 1992...
America offered to pay me the same
that Real Madrid was paying me.
I accepted looking forward to the '94 World Cup.
I thought it was
a good way to return to Mexico.
Do you remember the day of your debut
in Leon, America?
We were losing 1 to 0.
He scored the goal.
It was a foul and Hugo is cunning.
He tried to screw the goalkeeper
and it was a free shot and it was a 1-1 tie.
As an Americanist it was unthinkable that a Pumas player came to America.
An iconic Pumas player came to America.
Without trying, I'm responsible of the National Team
and it's part of my fate and I embraced it.
That's when I invited Hugo
and I tell him, "In the National Team,
through history, for many reasons,
you haven't done well or quite matched.
You have a lot of influence with any group of people.
I know this generation, and they are
talented young people and you are an example
and you, certainly,
will boost that group.
Miguel Mejia Baron, who always had a close link
with Hugo Sanchez, specially in the beginning,
he had a kinship with Hugo,
not only because they had
the same career, football, Pumas,
dentistry, but there was a kinship.
Miguel felt a great respect for Hugo,
they had good rapport and talked a lot.
Miguel always expressed
that Hugo Sanchez was his friend.
What we lived in Honduras was like a war.
They gave us awful treatment since we arrived,
they threw rock at the bus,
they wouldn't let us train, and they told Hugo,
"We will break your leg." And they looked for him.
And he was so sly they could never beat him.
And Hugo transmitted that slyness in every sense.
They celebrated, for first occasion,
the '93 American Cup, which cost a lot
to achieve that Mexico could go to an American Cup.
I told him, "In appreciation to
your whole story
and this last stretch you accepted,
I'd like you to retire in the American Cup as captain."
His football quality, his background, his history, his all,
he automatically, and unwillingly, put a distance.
He is the best. You can't deny it,
nor, "I'm taking your place,
or give me a good pass."
We even joked, some of us made lewd jokes
about the mom and the sister, and the girl and the wife.
He didn't cross the line, but he fooled around.
He was very affectionate in those circumstances.
I had Luis, Hugo and Zague,
and I only wanted to play with two.
I told Luis, "I have this problem."
Zague was the apex, he was the fastest.
I needed speed.
"It's between you and Hugo."
Miguel comes to my room and says,
"You won't play. I will be with the two forwards.
They want me to ditch Hugo."
He literally said, "They want me to push
Hugo aside."
I would never do that.
He says "I'll screw you."
"Don't do that, Miguel."
I said, "Yes. Your time is the future.
Hugo is retiring
and this is part of the appreciation."
He got very upset. He threw a tantrum.
"You are still starting forward in '94, the World Cup,
but I must back up Hugo Sanchez
and he will play in your place."
It was not just about having a star,
or to play accommodating the player.
And everyone, including Hugo,
always understood the collective effort
where everyone has to participate.
In that Hugo Sanchez generation,
the best group of players' history combined
to support the idol.
And that Miguel Mejia Baron's team,
of '93 and '94, I believe,
along with Lapuente's in'98,
are the best in the National Team's history.
Miguel Mejia Baron, before the final, said.
"Hugo, the time has come to leave like the great ones,
in the final we always dreamed of,
leave like a God."
Unfortunately, we got to the final against Argentina.
We had an extraordinary performance
and we didn't get the title.
That would have been my last game with the National Team.
We had a great game.
Hugo liked what was happening with the team.
Maybe he didn't think
we could play so well as a team,
or be the protagonists, like we were.
That commitment was over and Hugo says,
"I'd like to go to the World Cup."
I said, "Hugo,
we agreed this was the end."
After some time
between the American and the World Cup,
Miguel said, "I have to leave America,
because I feel a very bad attitude
from the America's board.
They wanted me to sign an image contract,
and through that
I wanted to earn an amount besides the sports contract.
They wouldn't pay that. It was peanuts.
So I deftly told my manager
to add a clause
where, if a foreign team
was interested in me, I could leave.
Hugo Sanchez did two things when he left America.
One, he valued himself and he looked independent.
And to fulfill another dream, return to Madrid
with a very popular team like the Rayo Vallecano.
WORLD CUP USA 1994
I distinctly remember
that the trip from the hotel to the stadium
was really long.
We were all very quiet,
save Jorge Campos,
who narrated his own game
in the backseat.
And in his own game
he made frequent mistakes.
So everyone laughed.
An almost nervous laugh.
Hugo starts the process.
He plays center forward
and gets the nine and is a starter.
He plays as starter the whole game.
One of the clearest occasions I had was a "Chilena" where
center came fantastically,
And it passed by the post.
So that was
a critical moment for my future,
because I'm convinced
that if I had scored,
I would have played as starter in the next game
and it could have been a tie or we could have overcome.
But the result was we lost
and that was my last
official game with the National Team.
And that cap,
which is my favorite,
in that case, didn't help me
in the end.
Miguel...
lost that confidence
in Hugo's image
and doesn't regard him for the next games.
At that time,
it was like a castle crumbling,
like a castle that I had created
and formed, crumbled.
Like I didn't deserve
to end my trajectory with the National Team in that way.
Miguel realizes, in my opinion,
that he could forego Hugo Sanchez in the games.
He played in such a way
where he had two fast forwards
and Luis Garcia was scoring 17 goals
with Atletico Madrid, 16.
I think Miguel
didn't want to change the structure,
but the team was practically
pushed to the background.
That day, the Bulgarians were really worried
because they couldn't catch Zague.
You couldn't change a player to change your game scheme
when you controlled the game in other way.
I wanted to keep Zague with the possibility
of arriving with his speed,
but someone had to play Galindo's role.
Tuca was on top. It took him so he
would see what I couldn't from below.
And I tell
Memo Vazquez, "Ask Tuca what he thinks about Galindo?"
While he found out, I talk to Hugo.
I said, "Warm up, because you'll probably take
Galindo's place."
He comes from the bench.
"Tuca, what do you think about Hugo as a possibility?"
I said, "Instead of who?"
There isn't. "What do you think?"
"The three centers are containing well.
Benjamin Galindo is perfectly
projecting Zague.
And Hugo wasn't still the protagonist of the story.
That was terrible for Hugo.
It was terrible for him.
He was used to the limelight,
he was used to be the protagonist,
to play the lead.
He was used to score.
For him, it was,
and I daresay, unbearable to be on the bench.
In a game that went into overtime
you have to have changes.
It was strange for us that there were no changes,
but they were warming up.
Those two were warming up.
It was obvious to Hugo that there would be a change.
And Hugo feels from outside
that if we go to the front, we will beat Bulgaria.
When Miguel finally decides
I forgot the minute,
he says, "I'll bring Hugo in."
He gets up confidently and goes to Hugo.
He wanted me as midfielder to replace Benjamin Galindo.
I have never played there.
And right now in the game
I said, "I can go get them."
If everyone does everything right,
why do I have to change that?
Because they think of refreshing.
What is refreshing?
It's taking out a player
that's been doing fine for 80 minutes
to put one that you don't know if will work.
And that's why you have to refresh.
It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
Wait a minute!
If they are doing thing well,
why do I have to change someone?
When he warms up, I go by the stripe and ask, "What?"
That dialogue on the bench
was me trying to convince him
to be more daring. "Think it through.
I have to come in as forward
to score the goals and win the game."
"You know what? I'd like it too
if you came as center forward, but right now,
if I leave midfield,
we're standing against a very good team
and we'll be in trouble."
"But keep warming up."
I then decided he wouldn't get in.
He comes back five or three minutes later
and says, "Hugo won't play.
Period."
You enter as midfield and move forward.
The player rules the field.
"I'll enter midfield." "Yes."
"You go back, I go forward."
But a center forward was missing.
I'm completely convinced.
That's what the whole country was clamoring.
The Mexicans said, "Isabel, what's wrong?
Tell Hugo to come out." You know the Mexicans.
I was like, "What can I do?"
"You tell him! Sure you can."
"Tell Miguel."
And, sadly, for many fans
and for the football world
the only one who could decide
at that time was I, and I exerted that power.
He didn't come out.
It was one of the saddest episodes in Mexican football,
because we felt we had the man
that could take us
to the next desired round...
Football generates, during games,
many scenarios.
One of the most important it generates
is what you can provoke in your rival
with the players you have.
Don't get the player in, get his name in,
and you disturb them. That was the dilemma.
Maybe Miguel Mejia Baron did it to take care of him.
Who knows.
To bring Hugo in,
as people think,
just to kick a penalty
is ridiculous.
Not because he can't.
Ridiculous
because he shot his last penalty
with his team Rayo Vallecano and he failed,
and his team went to Second Division.
That was his last penalty.
I saw the Paraguay one,
in '86.
I lived the moment when Hugo told Bora,
"I have cramps against Germany."
At that time, everything came over me
and I thought, "Why should I bring him in?"
Such a big responsibility, just to do that.
I thought all those things and said,
"Not even for penalties."
I meant no disrespect.
It was a coaching decision in a given time.
If he had wanted to come in,
of course we would have won, just for his presence.
Not because he'd have scored three of four goals.
Hugo's presence in the field,
in the penalties,
he would have been the first shooter
and we would have felt confident.
Maybe...
I should have seen before Miguel.
He asked me if Hugo...
I said, "It's unnecessary."
I didn't promise him anything.
I had no obligations.
He and I had obligations as sportsmen
that represented Mexico, that's all.
There was nothing more.
I didn't break any commitment.
I'm not guilty of that.
I would apologize
in regards to realizing now, as a coach,
that my stance was wrong.
As a coach.
But a star and player, undoubtedly,
I think I wouldn't have developed my qualities
unless I played where I always played.
I loved him dearly.
Are you not friends anymore?
We're not friends.
Yeah.
It happens to everyone, specially at my age.
I'm sure it does.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END 1997...
Hugo!
We'd all have liked that he left at that great moment,
but it's really hard.
I think everything football gives
makes it impossible
to do it on time, according to all of us
who surround the empire of sportsmen.
I decided to retire
on May 29th, '97,
in the tribute match Real Madrid threw for me
against Paris Saint Germain.
Those were my last three flips
my last three goals.
He didn't train once in Real Madrid,
not because he didn't want to train.
Real Madrid was not doing well in the League.
Hugo said, "The tribute is approaching.
To train under pressure with the team
will only make me distract them."
It's incredible
that he went to Majadahonda,
close to his home, to run in the woods.
And then he kicked any amount of balls
against two trees that were the goal.
And he refined his aim.
They took him everywhere
in Madrid to give midnight interviews
and the next day he scored three goals.
The front cover reads, "Real, there's your solution"
Only Hugo Sanchez can do that.
He scored in pregames
two or three goals.
All Michel and the midfielders and above
were obsessed with was to try
to make Hugo happy.
What made Hugo happy?
Scoring goals.
When I woke up that morning,
with my bride by my side,
I said, "I wouldn't have liked to wake up
from this beautiful dream."
I didn't really realized what he was going through.
He was just like now.
It was the same effect.
For the rest of the civilization, it was the same.
For me, I realized it was obviously a hard time.
A little bit of the nose,
those big, beautiful eyes,
the big eyelashes and the eyebrows.
- The mouth. - Not the mouth.
You don't want my mouth?
He keeps everything inside.
I think he doesn't want to share his sadness
or his fears with others,
I mean, with his closest family members, because
he prefers, somehow,
to suffer on his own and his pain to others,
like when he shares that suffering with us.
I mean,
the time I saw him suffer the most
was when my brother Hugo died.
It was very sad.
My wife, my daughters and I got ready
to take a flight from Tijuana
to Mexico City.
And suddenly
my wife's phone rang,
because I turned my phone off,
because we had boarded the plane,
and my wife didn't turn it off.
The call came in
and it was my manager's wife, Jose Manuel Sanz.
She has my wife's number and called her.
She said, "We are calling Hugo and he doesn't answer.
But I call you because we need to find him."
"We're on the plane to Mexico City.
We'll make a stop to go to Pachuca, for the Hall of Fame."
She says, "Jose Manuel wants to talk to Hugo,
can you give him the phone?"
So she gave me the phone.
It was on that damn November 8th, 2014,
when Jose Manuel told me
that they...
They informed him that
they had found two bodies
in Polanco
and it seemed like one of them was Hugo.
So I was paralyzed and...
I couldn't speak.
Isabel asked, "What happened?"
I said,
"They told me it's possible that Hugo
is one of the bodies they found in Polanco,
but it's not confirmed yet."
So
I was speechless.
They...
Isabel, my wife,
and my daughters in the next seats,
didn't know what was going on.
So I told Isabel,
"It's not confirmed, but it might be."
I couldn't hold myself.
That was the most
fucked up flight...
I've ever taken.
That one.
A three goddamn hour journey
to Mexico...
From Tijuana to Mexico.
And I spent
the whole trip crying,
my wife too,
and thus my daughters. They couldn't believe it.
I arrived to the airport
and the first thing I did...
was pick up the phone,
call Jose Manuel
and ask him to please investigate
while I was in the flight,
to investigate,
and please confirm
if it was Hugo or not.
So I arrived to the airport,
descended the escalator,
which I'll never forget,
it seemed eternal.
I went to the men's
room, and my wife and my daughters went
to the women's room,
and when I called Jose Manuel,
he confirmed
that it was him.
I wanted to leave before.
The normal thing is...
that grandparents leave first,
then the parents
and then the children.
But I don't understand why he left first.
I wanted to go before him.
That's it.
When I knew that...
my life
has been another.
It's not the same.
God...
God has supported me in everything.
And I accept fate.
Every time I see my dad
I feel my brother close.
I don't know why Mexico doesn't have
forwards up to par with Hugo Sanchez.
Forwards like Hugo Sanchez
don't exist anywhere in the world.
Nowadays, societies' new gods,
as in ancient times, in the Roman Empire,
were warriors.
They are football players,
the sportsmen
the nations' ambassadors,
the characters that
can easily be more recognized than a president.
And that's what happened with Hugo Sanchez.
He became an ambassador
where everyone in the world know who he is.
Hugo started to turn
Mexican football into globalized football.
He helped give Mexico an important type of identity,
as an exporter of Mexican culture.
I pictured myself being Hugo Sanchez,
playing in Europe too.
If back then Hugo Sanchez
hadn't been there,
I wouldn't have had anyone to look up to
and have that dream.
Hugo should be next to Cantinflas,
with Pedro Infante.
It's a popular matter.
Hugo Sanchez doesn't belong to himself.
Hugo Sanchez is society's heritage.
Whether you like him or not, he's Mexico's heritage.
Whoever thinks it's easy that the master Hugo Sanchez
was five times Pichichi,
lifted Pumas up to be a champion
two seasons in a row,
that he made all those guys that spread hate
eat their own words
when he played in Atletico,
that he made Real Madrid champion
who knows how many times,
it seems easy,
but only the Indian
knows the weight he carries.
I'm very lucky to have been
exactly in the same field, kicking the same ball
and sometimes defending the same team
with the greatest guy that Mexican football gave us.
What would I say if we played together?
"Make a pass to score a goal."
No. For me, obviously,
I love to play with top players, and Hugo Sanchez
was in the top, a legend and I'd be proud
and I'd love to play with him,
because good players must play together.
The cracks, the legends must play together.
What I said is not a dream,
it's the truth. It would be a pleasure to play with him
and we'd surely make a top duo.
I'm grateful to Sanchez
because he has made me feel proud
as the Mexican I am.
For everything that Hugo Sanchez has represented to us
and everything he's given to Mexico.
Despite everyone.
Without Hugo Sanchez football would be different.
I can agree or not.
He might be arrogant or not.
Whatever he is.
He is a necessary guy.
A guy that football needed
and I think we enjoyed him a lot.
When you start in football
or want to become someone,
there's no better example than Hugo Sanchez,
Mexican, triumphant, scorer.
Everything he achieved in Europe
is something
not anyone can reach.
Due to the magnitude of Hugo Sanchez' figure
and all he planted in the collective unconscious
we will always expect that what Hugo Sanchez does
in any walk of life is triumphant.
That's not Hugo's fault.
Our expectations.
Hugo Sanchez is a character in Mexican history,
not football only.
I think Hugo transcended
beyond our borders
and Hugo is a Mexican icon.
Despite that many things have happened
and many years have passed
since his days in the field,
the Mexican boy that wants to be a football player
still identifies with Hugo Sanchez.
When I was a child,
maybe I was 4 or 5,
I came to my house from the street,
one Saturday, and my father was with his friends
playing domino,
and when I came in, he sat me on his lap
and asked his buddies, "Do you know who this child is?
This boy will be the best football player
of all time in Mexico".
HUGO SANCHEZ STARTED HIS TRAJECTORY
AS A COACH IN THE YEAR 2000.
IN THE YEAR 2004, HE ACHIEVED THE DOUBLE CHAMPIONSHIP WITH UNAM
AND GOT THE TITLE SANTIAGO BERNABEU.
IN THE YEAR 2006 HE TOOK THE REINS
OF MEXICO'S NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM
FOR ONLY 13 MONTHS
PLACING THIRD IN THE AMERICAN CUP.
HE CURRENTLY WORKS AS ANALYST FOR ESPN.
So, Atletico de Madrid has the opportunity
to take three points, which would be...